29
Aug 13
by Maryclaire Mayes

Poison Ivy Isn’t Funny, But…

mc8-29I know that poison ivy isn’t funny, but I did have a tiny little chuckle when my son showed up with his buddy covered in a poison ivy rash. To me it was a little funny because, he doesn’t get poison ivy; at least not for the first 25 years of his life! My dad was the same way; he could pull it out and never get a bump until he was about 60.  I had been telling my son for years to stop pulling it out barehanded. Just because you are not sensitive to it today doesn’t mean you won’t start tomorrow.

Well he had been doing a favor for his Aunt and Uncle up in their woods over the weekend and now he and his friend had it all over their legs and arms. The other amusing part was that he wanted to use essential oils to treat it. When he was younger he thought all this natural stuff was just superstition or placebo effect. Now our son who is very analytical and needs the research to back up any claims that are made was asking for me for advice on which essential oils he should use on his poison ivy rash!

He had worked for us for quite a few years and he now had all the facts he needed to be a believer in the power of essential oils.

He thought maybe Tea tree oil and I agreed because it has antiseptic and drying properties. He asked me what else he could add, maybe lavender for it’s anti-inflammatory properties and for it’s ability to ease pain and calm nerves.  I was pleasantly surprised that using alternative medicine was his first choice and he came to me for advice (I must have done something right).

So we dug up a spray bottle and he mixed up his potion and took some soaps and left. Oh and a few days later he called to tell me it worked! Nice thing about our Alabu product line is you can have some comforting soaps and lotions for itchy days in your home…even if it isn’t poison ivy!


28
Aug 13
by Maryclaire Mayes

The County Fair

Hal-&-Nell-webLate summer is County Fair time; do you go?  I don’t mean the kind of fair that is more of a carnival than the historical county fairs where farmers took a day off and brought their families to the fair to see what was the latest in agriculture. It was a time of fun and competitions, celebrating another harvest with their friends and neighbors.

I grew up a mere 5 miles from the NJ state fair and our family always attended. Being a 4-H family we spent almost everyday at the fair. We looked forward to the fair like most kids anticipated Christmas. We thought for months to come up with original ideas for our 4-H club’s booth; we spent hours booth sitting, (they were never left unattended) and showed our animals at the fair.

Funny thing, if you participated like this in the fair, it was a yearlong process of preparation and fulfilling 4-H requirements! The county fair wasn’t just late summer for us! Keeping record books, doing demonstrations and showing was all year with 4-H. It was very hard work and a privilege to be able to show at the fair. No matter how we did at the show, we had a feeling of accomplishment that we had done all the work required to get to there. Sure the fair had a midway with rides and games and things we enjoyed, but the 4-H and agricultural side of the fair is what was most important to us and where we spent most of our time.

Nell-showing-her-goat-web

Now we live near the convergence of four counties that have pretty nice fairs.  Some are better than others. It is sad to see so many fairs shrink the agricultural area of their fairs. So many people today have no idea where their food comes from before it gets to the grocery store.

Because we have a farm, people ask us questions like, “where can I take my kids to see a cow, they have never seen one before.” These types of questions always surprise and sadden me. I am heartened that in our area there is resurgence in interest in where food comes from and people wanting to have their own garden.

So if you haven’t been in a while or have never been, get your kids and go to a county fair with real live animals and kids working hard to have the privilege to be there. Tell them you appreciate all the work they have done to be there. Yeah, go to a fair!


27
Aug 13
by Maryclaire Mayes

Save a Life – Donate Blood

Blood_donation_web.1Dean and I are pretty enthusiastic about donating blood. There have been a number of reasons  throughout our lives that nudged us to do it. Dean has always felt good about donating blood and starting doing it regularly in high school. I always felt a bit squeamish about needles. But after 9/11; I started giving blood, I just felt like I had to do something and they were asking for donations. I was glad to do it and have continued. You never know who you will be helping; like our grand daughter, she needed many transfusions when she had heart surgeries. And our good friend, he  was diagnosed with leukemia and needed blood transfusions frequently. He told us some days he didn’t get a transfusion because the demand was higher than the supply. Did you know every time you donate it is enough to save three peoples lives? I’m assuming it is even more if it is used for babies likes our grand daughter.
Please consider finding some time to donate this week.  Donating is pretty quick (about 30 to 60 minutes if you make an appointment), and doesn’t really hurt. You don’t even have to watch or see blood. I can look at the blood but I never look when they insert the needle.
If you haven’t donated in a while, or it’s your first time, here are a couple of tips: Drink lots of water before you go. Drink lots of water after you donate. The hospitality team at the donation site will have water and juice for you and a snack afterwards. You can go to www.redcrossblood.org to find out everything you need to know about donating blood and even make an appointment online. Every day lots of people depend on blood donations to survive. It feels great to donate; you’ll be somebody’s hero!  If you’ve donated recently or have anything to add, let us know in the comments section below!

22
Aug 13
by Maryclaire Mayes

Hummingbirds and Bees Don’t Play Nice

 

hummingbird on feederI really like hummingbirds; they are beautiful and even though they are so small they are fierce little fighters, except when it comes to bees.   I always feel so bad for the little hummers when I see them being chased away from their feeder by bees. It is amazing to me that they are afraid of the much tinier bees buzzing them. But I guess they are no different than us, most of us folks are afraid of bees too. Who wants to get stung, right?

So what can you do to keep the little hummers from being tormented at their juice bar? The best thing to do is start with the right feeder. You can purchase feeders that are bee proof. It is designed so that it is too long of a reach from the top of the feeder to nectar below for the bees to get, but the hummingbirds still can lap it up to their hearts content. They also make bee guard tips, which can be purchased to use on feeders you already have.  I have a bottle type feeder that the bees really like, so I will try the bee guard inserts and see if they work. My dish type feeder works pretty well for keeping the bees away and I like it because it is really easy to clean.

There are a lot of tips on using oils or insecticide to keep bees away, but most hummingbird sites will advise against this, as it is not good for birds or bees. I’m all for communing with nature and figuring out how we can all live comfortably with each other. If the hummingbirds and bees can figure it out, so can we.


21
Aug 13
by Maryclaire Mayes

Unconventional and Comfortable: How We Met

Dean & Marycalire 1979Dean and I met in a very unconventional way when we were both 22. I was working at “Higher Horizons” an adapted “Outward Bound Program” for troubled youth when Dean interviewed for a job there. We were quite understaffed and overworked at the time. Back then it was an unconventional program which meant our boss had an unconventional way of interviewing job applicants (something I’m not sure he could get away with now!)  He would send perspective staff on a 3-day trip with a group of juvenile delinquents and seasoned staff and when they all got back the staff would tell him what we thought of the applicant.

Dean had just returned from Alaska when he came to “interview” with our program. He had successfully finished a 42-day mountaineering expedition to the peak of Mt. McKinley (tallest mountain in North America).

The staff at Higher Horizons were all in their 20’s and worked hard and played harder. We lead 28-day wilderness trips with up to 14 youth from NYS (New York State) juvenile correction facilities. Two or three staff were responsible for the trouble youth 24 hours a day for up to 14 days at a time, until other staff came in to replace you.

When the trip was over, we always had a staff meeting to debrief with our boss and then went out together to unwind. Dean did his “interview” on a 3-day orientation trip and the staff had been “unwinding” the night before, so we were pretty tired. That morning we loaded the kids and the gear up in the van and drove up to the Adirondack Mountains to the trailhead. Dean didn’t get much training from us before we left, but it was obvious that he was a skilled wilderness leader. It was raining when we got there and we had to hike about 8 miles into the lake where we would set up camp. When we got there, we set up our tarps and spread our sleeping bags; it was still raining so we all got under our tarps. We talked for a while with the boys, but the staff all ended up falling asleep since we had been “unwinding” till the wee hours the night before.

We woke hours later to find that Dean had all 14 boys under control and they had collected wood, started a fire and were making dinner. We (the staff) felt terrible that we had all fallen asleep and left Dean to figure out what to do with all these kids, but we were all impressed with how comfortable he was.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and we all felt that Dean had passed the interview with flying colors.

Because we were so short staffed and I was one of the few senior staff I was pulling more and more days in the field with little time off. About a month after Dean’s “interview” I complained to my boss about being understaffed. I asked him about that guy who came out with us last month, said he was good, why don’t you hire him and he did.

At that time, I had no idea that we would eventually marry. Honestly! It wasn’t until we had worked together for almost a year that we had our first date. This year marks our 34th anniversary, all these years later; I’m not sure why it has worked! Maybe because we are both so comfortable with whom we are that we have been able to build a beautiful lifestyle together!

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